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Archive for the ‘China’s Cultural Relics’ Category

George Lim (pinyin: Lin-Qing-He) began his coin and banknote collection 30 years ago with a single note, the first 10,000 Singapore dollar bill he received. ‘As soon as I made that amount, I saved it to remember it,’ says Mr. Lim, a Singaporean real-estate developer, whose collection today includes more than 100 rare coins and banknotes.

Mr. Lim plans to auction 68 coins and notes from his collection in Hong Kong on Aug. 22. He hopes to cash in on growing interest in collectibles from mainland Chinese buyers who have already pushed up the price of rare stamps, wines and art in recent months.

The lots in the Hong Kong auction will focus on Southeast Asian and Chinese coins and banknotes. One item of note is a rare Yunnan Spring dollar dated 1910 with an unusual spelling mistake embossed on the coin (pinyin: Xuan-Tong-Yuan-Bao). Mr. Lim spoke with Angie Wong in Hong Kong about collecting etiquette and how to safeguard yourself from picking up a fake. The following interview has been edited.

WSJ: What do you look for when starting a collection?

Mr. Lim: Rarity and quality. Quality is basically the condition of the coin, who commissioned the coin and when it was produced. But if the coin is rare, then the wear and tear isn’t as important, especially if only one or two survives.

WSJ: Do you think it is good to hoard a collection or sell it?

Mr. Lim: This is only a hobby. There are collectors who keep all the good stuff and leave nothing for others to collect. I think if you are collecting, you must release something from time to time [so other collectors can enjoy them]. I wanted to collect China silver coins, but all the top China silver coins are going into one person’s hands. So I had to go for Chinese gold coins instead.

WSJ: How do you know when to sell?

Mr. Lim: Let the market decide the price. Watch the auctions to see what is selling. Also know that auctions goes up and down with the economy.

WSJ: What tips do you have for someone who wants to start collecting?

Mr. Lim: Newcomers, especially those interested in Chinese coin collecting, need a base knowledge. Read lots of books on the topic. Get to know what each coin is about, and the story behind it. Talk to dealers as well.

WSJ: What about forgeries?

Mr. Lim: It is very common for forgeries in China, especially if the coin is worth a lot. The best thing to do is safeguarding yourself by buying coins approved by a recognized third-party grading service.

Angie Wong

As a part of the gathered performance activity of Chinese ethnic Buy Nexium Online Pharmacy alt=”" width=”150″ height=”103″ />intangible cultural heritage items, the reporting performance themed with “Hunan Flavor” was conducted at the Hunan Concert Hall on the evening of March 13. It is reported that Hunan’s 16 ethnic intangible cultural heritage items will be performed Wellbutrin SR Online in the Beijing Tianqiao Theater on 17 and 18 this month.

Sponsored by the Ministry lotensin of Culture and the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, this performance activity was held in Beijing on February 17 and will last until March 30. The ethnic folk artists from different provinces, cities, and autonomous regions across the country will present nine performances for the local audience. Brand levitra Among them, special performances will be made by Hunan, Qinghai, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, and Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions.

Nearly 200 Hunan-based actors from Xiangxi, Huaihua, Zhangjiajie, Shaoyang, and Yongzhou attended the performance, including Tian Longxin and Dai Bisheng, and Chen Shida, representative heirs of the state-level and provincial-level intangible cultural heritage respectively. The performance displays the colorful folk culture of Hunan’s ethnic minorities Buy Brand Levitra Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed with their dances, instrumental music, folk songs, clothing, and so on. Levitra cialis Over the counter viagra

Translator: Lv Xuefen

The set of bells, set of chimes and other instruments excavated from the tomb of Zeng Houyi, who was a Warring States duke in Suixian County (now Suizhou City in Hubei Province), are the largest-scale ancient percussion instruments found so far. Brand levitra The musical instruments were discovered in the central chamber, which was the biggest, and the second biggest, the eastern chamber.

Among the musical instruments found was a bell used for tuning other instruments, a ten-stringed plucked instrument, five Se (a zither-like instrument) with 25 strings each, two Yu (or Sheng) and one hanging drum. The other instruments found were three Xiao (a reed instrument consisting of a bundle of 13 flutes, each of different thickness), two Chi (a flute with a closed tube, blown transversely, with the air exit on top, and the five Buy Viagra Super Active+ Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed finger holes open “forward”– toward the player. The method of playing the Chi, by opening and closing holes, bespeaks a close relationship with the ocarina), seven 35-stringed Se and a small drum. The most distinguished among them were Zeng Houyi bells — the gem of ancient Chinese Art:

The Zeng Houyi Bells (big photo Buy pamelor online click here)

The Zeng Houyi bells are a three-tiered set which has 65 refined bronze bells, including a large Jian drum (90cm in diameter, the drum was suspended from a framework in such a way that the drum head faced the striker), one set of bells and Levitra cialis one set of chimes. They formed the three sides of a rectangle.

The musical range of the Zeng Houyi bells, which can carry the main melody as well as the harmony, was more than five octaves, and Over the counter viagra of these three distinct groups have 12 complete notes each.

All the musical instruments excavated from the Zeng Houyi tomb show superb craftsmanship and function surprisingly well. Indeed, some could not be surpassed even today.

Bells Music list:

The Chime of Bells Music: A Chu Air

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The Chime of Bells Music: Ode To The Orange

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The Chime of Bells Music: Melody of Chu

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The Chime of Bells Music: Clouds

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The Chime of Bells Music: Mourning For Ying

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The Chime of Bells Music: Oracle

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The Chime of Bells Music: Heroic Air of Chu

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The Chime of Bells Music (Chinese Song): The Osprey

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The Chime of Bells Music (Chinese Buy Levitra Online Song): The Song of The Yue People

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The Chime of Bells Music (Chinese Song): Song to Righteousness

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The Chime of Bells Music: Schu Palace Banquet Music

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Bronze is the earliest of all alloys produced by Buy venlor the human race. Levitra cialis In China, the earliest bronze ware were produced in the late period of the primitive society, and those produced during the Shang-Zhou period, in large quantities with the production techniques rated as better than ever before, highlight the social estate system practiced at the time. Bronze ware used before the Qin-Han period fall into three categories – those used at sacrificial ceremonies held by the state and aristocratic families, those for daily use by aristocrats and those used as funerary objects. Bronze articles for practical use include weapons, musical instruments, cooking utensils, and food, wine and water containers, as well as ornamental articles on horse chariots.

Bronze weapons unearthed so far are mostly swords, axes, axe-spears and dagger-axes. Brand levitra Bells in complete sets known as bianzhong and large bells known as bo are the most typical bronze musical instruments played at sacrificial ceremonies and on other important occasions. Tripods and quadripods with hollow legs (li), which originated from prehistory cooking utensils, were used Buy Levitra Online to boil whole animal carcasses for sacrificial ceremonies and feasting. Rules based on the social estate system were strictly followed with regard to the use of bronze ware. Nine tripods and eight food containers known as gui were allowed on occasions presided over by the “Son of Buy Viagra Super Active+ Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed alt=”A wine vessel and a water container unearthed from a tomb of the Warring States period in Suixian County, Hubei Province” width=”90″ height=”72″ />Heaven”, the supreme ruler of a state. Aristocrats immediately below the Son of Heaven in rank may use seven tripods and six guis or five tripods and four guis. In short, the number of bronze containers decreased progressively according to the degrading ranks of the users. There were also stringent rules on the size and weight of the utensils for users of each rank. Wine sets are in greater variety than any other kind of bronze ware we have found so far – possibly because people of the Shang-Zhou period were fond of drinking wine. Over the counter viagra The earliest bronze wine sets include jue (wine vessel with three legs and a loop handle), jia (round-mouthed wine vessel with three legs) and hu (squaremouthed wine containers). Many wine containers take the shape of birds or animals.

According to the Historical Records, in 1046 BC the capital city of the Shang was lost to armies of King Wu of the Zhou. Reluctant to be a prisoner of war, King Zhou of the Shang, a most notorious tyrant in Chinese history, set a fire and burned himself to death with a “jade shroud” on. The “shroud”, so to speak, consisted of his most valuable jade pieces strung together, which he wanted to perish together with him.

Far back in prehistory times, it was already believed that jade pieces helped preserve dead bodies. Large quantities of jade artifacts have been excavated from ancient tombs, including even grave clothes made of jade pieces, jade bars in the hands of the dead and jade plugs to gorge the mouth, nose, eyes and ears of the dead with. From tombs of the Liangzhu culture, archeologists have unearthed jade pieces strung together to cover the dead body with. Nearly 100 jade pieces were found on the cover of the coffin when, in 1990, a tomb of the Gao State of the Spring and Autumn period was opened for excavation. Levitra cialis The dead body is covered from head to toe with jade pieces. The most remarkable is a piece of textile with small pieces of jade sewn to it, with tiny holes on them to facilitate the sewing.

Things like the “jade veil” and the “jade shroud” that perished along with King Zhou of the Shang were to be developed into “jade grave clothes” – in fact sets of small, polished jade chips sewn together with gold, silver, copper and even silk thread. Two dozen such sets have been unearthed from tombs of princes of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Each set consists of five “jade cases” separately  for the head, the upper part of the body, the lower limbs, the hands and the feet which, put together, assume the shape of a human figure. Brand levitra The jade attire for Prince Liu Sheng of the West Han Dynasty, which was unearthed from his tomb in Mancheng County of Hebei Province, north China, consists of 2,498 jade chips sewn with 1.1 kilograms of gold thread. The prince’s wife shared the tomb with Buy cataflam Diflucan Online Pharmacy No Prescription Needed him. She also had jade attire on. Moreover, large quantities of jade ornaments were found in her coffin, the inner walls of the coffin inlaid with as many as 192 jade plates.

After the Han Dynasty, however, use of jade artifacts was no longer limited to aristocrats. It expanded to include rich merchants, landlords and scholars keen to display their social status and wealth. This is due to increased Buy Levaquin Online Pharmacy src=”http://www.chinascan.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/The-“jade-veil”-unearthed-from-a-tomb-of-the-Kingdom-Gao-of-the-West-Zhou-period-about-the-11th-century-BC-771-BC-at-Sanmenxia-Henan-Province-120×150.jpg” alt=”The “jade veil” unearthed from a tomb of the Kingdom Gao of the West Zhou period (about the 11th century BC-771 BC) at Sanmenxia, Henan Province” width=”72″ height=”90″ />communication between China and areas to its west via the Silk Road, which subsequently boosted the country’s import of raw jade from Central Asia that Diflucan Online encompasses what is now Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. As time went by, jade carvings, in fact carvings of not only “soft jade” but also other precious stones like agate and jadeite, became a thriving industry meeting a huge demand from the upper class. Over the counter viagra Carving techniques and workmanship improved constantly, especially during the period from the Tang Dynasty to the Song and the period when China was under two successive dynasties, the Ming and Qing. People seem to forget that once upon a time, in China’s slavery society, use of jade artifacts was a part of the social estate system prevalent at the time. As ornaments, however, jade artifacts will remain an important aesthetic choice for the Chinese people.